Steep toll for crooked Lombard Street moves forward,...

1of3Cars make their way down Lombard Street in San Francisco, Monday, April 15, 2019. Thousands of tourists may soon have to pay as much as $10 to drive down the world-famous crooked street if a proposal announced Monday becomes law. In the summer months, an estimated 6,000 people a day visit the 600-foot-long street, creating lines of cars that stretch for blocks. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)Photo: Eric Risberg / Associated Press

2of3Ada Xu (center), who is visitng from China, gets photographed while visiting Lombard Street in San Francisco, California, on Sunday, April 14, 2019.Photo: Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle

The Russian Hill street attracts 2 million tourists a year who come to take selfies or admire the brick switchbacks. City officials have long contemplated plans to impose reservations and fares of up to $10 to drive down the road, an idea that requires state approval. It’s currently illegal for California cities to tack fees onto busy roads, and politicians who have tried to change those laws in the past have failed.

“Music to my ears,” said Supervisor Aaron Peskin. He and his colleagues unanimously passed a resolution last month to support a Lombard Street toll plan. The resolution’s sponsor, Supervisor Catherine Stefani, represents the northern district that includes the squiggly road. She views fares and reservations as a way to thin “blocks of bumper-to-bumper traffic” that clog intersections and spread through an otherwise picturesque neighborhood.

If Ting’s bill becomes law, the supervisors could create an administrative body to implement it. One scenario would enact fares of $5 on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., and $10 on weekends and holidays.

“The hope is that we’ll relieve congestion for tourists, but also for residents,” Ting said during a phone interview as he drove from the state Capitol to his San Francisco office Thursday.

He noted that as tourism picks up, driving has become a frustrating game of sit-and-wait for anyone living in the neighborhood.

“Just imagine,” Ting said, “you go to the store for a loaf of bread, and it takes 45 minutes to get home.”

The bill could be enacted as early as next year if it makes its way through the Legislature and is signed by the governor, but it’s unlikely San Francisco would have a pay structure ready to go by then.

And Ting has said in interviews that it’s not “prescriptive” — San Francisco could decide to leave the crooked street toll-free and jammed.

Rachel Swan covers transportation for The Chronicle. She joined the paper in 2015 and has also reported on politics in Oakland and San Francisco.

Previously, Rachel held staff positions at the SF Weekly and the East Bay Express, where she covered technology, law and the arts. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in rhetoric from the University of California, Berkeley.